Keyed zither.



J. R. GREEN.

KEYED ZITHER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 16, 1916. RENEWED'FEB. 25, 1919.

Patented Apr. 8, 1919.

INVENTU 2 ATT: Nays ms NORRIS puns UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOSEPH R. GREEN, OF WAKEFIELD, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOR TO THE PHONOHARP COMPANY, OF EAST BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS, A CORPORATION OF MAINE.

KEYED ZITHER.

Application filed May 16, 1916, Serial No. 97,829.

To all whom it may concern I Be it known that I, JOSEPH R. GREEN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Wakefield, in the county of Middlesex and State of Massachusetts, have invented new and useful Improvements in Keyed Zithers, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to stringed musical instruments and particularly to playing devices for such instruments. U. S. patent to Marx, 1,044,553, granted November 19, 1912, discloses playing devices each comprising a flexible spring shank, and a head carried thereby for striking the wires or strings, the flexible spring shank being arranged to cause the head to strike a series of blows in rapid succession when depressed once, to produce the effect of a mandolin. The pres ent invention relates particularly to playing devices of the character mentioned, but in the present instance the specific form of playing device is like that shown in Letters Patent to Marx 1,190,783. Hitherto these playing devices have been used to sound the melody strings and have not been arranged to sound chords excepting that three or more of them could be depressed simultaneously to sound a chord on the melody strings.

Some, if not all, instruments of the character mentioned are provided with chordproducing strings or wires arranged in groups, in addition to the melody strlngs, and although playing devices have been provided for playing on the melody strings, chord-playing devices have not been provided for sounding chords on the groups of chord-producing strings. The present invention includes a stringed instrument having melody strings and playing devices therefor, and. groups of chord-producing strings and chord-playing devices each arranged to coact with all the chord-producing strings or wires of the grou with whlch 1t is associated. In the use of such an instrument the melody-playing devices may be operated with the fingers of one hand to sound the melody notes one by one, and the chord-playing devices may be operated with the fingers of the other hand to play an accompaniment for the melody, the actuation of a single chord-playing device by one finger bein all that is necessary to produce a chord. he possibility of playing a chord with one finger is due to the fact that all the chord-playing strings or wlres of a Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Apr. 8, 1919.

Renewed February 25, 1919. Serial No. 279,179.

. given chord group are within range of action of a single playing device and are struck simultaneously by such device when the latter is depressed. The playing of a chord is therefore no more diflicult or complicated than the playing of a single note of the melody.

According to the specific embodiment of the invention as shown by the accompanying drawings, the chord-playing devices, as well as the melody-playing devices, have spring shanks adapted to cause a series of blows in rapid succession as the result of simply depressing the playing device once, but for reasons that are hereinafter fully eX- plained I prefer to make the spring shanks of the chord-playing devices substantially shorter than those of the melody-playing devices, to the end that the period of striking will not last so long as in the case of the melody-playing devices. The shorter duration of the active period of the chordplaying devices avoids the tendency of the chord-producing strings .to drown the melody.

Of the accompanying drawings:

Figure 1 represents a top plan view of a stringed musical invention.

Fig. 2 represents a side elevation thereof.

Fig. i 3 represents a vertical section through the chord-playing mechanism.

Fig. 4: represents a sectional View, in conventional form, including four strings or wires of a chord-producing group, and the head of the striker that cooperates with them.

The same reference characters indicate, the same parts wherever they occur.

The base or body of the instrument includes a sounding board 10 and a bottom piece 11, the space between said elements being the sound-box. The strings or wires are arranged in two main groups, those of one group beinghereinafter-termed melody strings, and those of the other main group being hereinafter termed chord-producing strings. The main group of chord-produc-. ing strings is divided into sub-groups, each of which comprises the strings of one chord. In the present instance there are four chord-producing strings in each sub-group, and they are indicated individually at a, a a and a. It will be noted that string a. of each sub-group is relatively large in diinstrument embodying this,

ameter, this being the bass string of each chord. The melody strings are indicated at b, and in the present instance there are two strings for each note.

Although the playing devices are in principle, substantially like those illustrated and described in the saidpatent to Marx, 1,190,783, a brief description maybe given for present purposes. Each playing device comprises a spring shank 12, a relatively stiff rocking holder 13 therefor, and a head 14 aiiixed to the- 'outer endof the shank. The several holders 13'are arranged side by side upon the upper edge 15 of a support or fixture 16. Each holderisp'rovided with a notch 17 into which the support extends, and the holders are confined with freedonr to tilt, by an overhanging fixture l8. As shown by Fig. 3," the'righthand end of the flexible spring-shank 12 is bent downwardly and engages the fixture 16. The shank has to be flexed from its normal position in order to place it 1n this position, and it continually tends. to elevate the head 14. A pad 19 of soft cushioning material, such as felt, is arrangedto overlie the heads 14 and limits upward movement of the heads. This pad is supported by a holder 20 which in turn is supported by a pair of flexible'spring shanks 21, 21 substantially like the shanks 12.

In all the particulars so fardescribe'd the chord-playing devices and melody-play ng devices are similar, but there are differences that will be explained. The shanks 12 of the chord-playing devices are substantially shorter than those of the melody-playing devices, the difi erence in length being shown most clearly by Fig. 2. This difference in length causes the heads of the chord-playing devices to vibrate mu'chinore rapidly than those of'the' melody-playing devices,.and limits the period of activity of the chord-playing devices to a shorter time than that of. the melody-playing devices. The phrase period of activity'does not mean the period of vibration, but meansfthe period during which the. 'device operates upon the strings. The chord-playing devices are provided with raised finger-pieces 22, but the melody-playing devices are shown without them. The head 14 of each chord-playing device coacts with all the strings a, a a and a bf a chord-group, as shown by Figs. 1 and 4:;and although the head of each melody playing device coacts with two strings b it does not produce more than one tone, because, according'to the arrangement of the melody strings, each pair will be tuned to the same pitchand' will be as one in tone but will have greater volume than one The heads of" the chordplaying devices are cut away, as indicated at a; in Figs. 3 and 4, to compensate for difference in diameter between the bass strin a and the smaller strin s a a and at, for although thecenters of the strings ity of, striking the base string with greater force than the three smaller strings.

Referring to Fig. .3,.t-he'-. playing device is shown in its normal position by solid .lines. When the rai-sedfinger-piece 'is depressed it takes-the position indicated by dotted li1'ie's,'-an'd theniomen'tum acquired by the head 14 causes the spring shank 12 to be fleXe'd downwardly after the downward movement of the finger-piece and holder 13 has been i arrest-ed by the fixture in "which they 'are mounted. 'Abn'orma'lflexure of the spring shanlnthustenables the head to impinge against the wires, but the head immediatelyfrises to the'h-ighest dotted-line positi'onain consequenceof the recoil of the spring shank and of the strings. After two or three impacts "against the strings the range of vibration of the head is so fardiminish'ed that it=does not-come in-contact with the strings again altl'iough it may vibrate indefinitely until the spring shank'assumes its nor-- m'alpositionywhich in Fig.3 is the intermediateldottedposition. This normal. position is indicated-also in'Fi'g.--'2, and the corresponding: normal depressed I position .of a melodyplaying deviceds alsorepresented by dotted lines -in=F-ig. '2. By: comparing the normaldepi'e'ssedpositionsof the two playing'devices in Fig; 2 it will Joe-seen that the head'of themelo'dy-playing device" is much closerto' the general plane of the strings-than is I the head of "the 'cho'rd playing device. Thiseloser-proxiinity of' the head of the 111e1od +p1ayi g device, in-"conjunction with the. i greater length i of the shank, gives the melodyplayin 'd'e'vice r a longer .period of activity than' 't l iat -of the ichord-playing device. Consequently, assuming that a chord-:' playing device and a melddy laying device are depressed simultaneously with equalforce, they -will be'gin tosound their respective strings at a proximatel the "same instantgbut'ithe period ofyactivityof the inel- Ody-playing*devicewill continue after that of theehord playing device ceases. The said dili'ere'nce proximity and in the length of shank enables the "melody-playing device to s-trike it's stringswith-greateriforce than that of the-chord-playingz device, and thus,*although four chord-producing strings are -'capable "of-producing ai -"greater volumeof sound than twoimelodystrings, 'the more forcible impact of thenielody playingdevice tends to equalize the voluine as between the two sets of strings.

Another result-of thed'i'fl'erenee in shank length is this :"The" vibrations of the'sho'rter shank are so rap'id 'that they are 'ineffect merged into one sustained note, whereas the comparatively slow vibrations of the longer shank produce noticeable articulation. The slower rate of vibration thus gives more prominence to the melody than the latter would have if the spring shanks of the two sets of playing devices had the same frequency of vibration.

Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, it will be noted that the chord-playing devices are ofiset from alinement with the melody-playing devices, and leave the chord-producing strings exposed at the left of the melody-playing devices, so that if the player desires a softer accompaniment than that produced by the chord-playing devices he may produce the same by picking the chord-producing strings with the fingers.

I claim:

1. A stringed musical instrument having a plurality of playing devices arranged to act upon the strings, each of said playing devices comprising a spring shank and a stringengaging head carried thereby, sonic of said shanks being longer than others in order to have greater note-sustaining capacity.

2. A chord-playingdevice fora stringed musical instrument having groups of chordstrings of different diameters with the axes of the several strings in the same plane, said device comprising a spring shank and ,a string-engaging head carried thereby, the string-engaging surface of said head having a stepped formation adapted to compensate for the difference in diameter of the strings to be engaged thereby.

3. The comblnation with a stringed musical instrument having melody strings, manually operable playing devices arranged to coact therewith, each of said melody-playing devices having a spring shank and a string-engaging head carried thereby, and chord-producing strings arranged in chord groups; of chord-playing devices arranged to coact respectively with said groups of strings, each of said chord-playing devices comprising a spring shank and a string-en-- gaging head thereon, the spring-shanks of said chordlaying devices being substantially shorter than those of said melodyplaying devices.

In testimony whereof I have afiixed my signature.

JOSEPH R. GREEN.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. 0. 

